Storage pallet for preassembled piano strings and pins



P 3 1968 I J. s. GEBBIA I 3,399,588

STORAGE PALLET FOR PREASSEMBL ED PIANO STRINGS AND PINS Filed June 15. 1966 INVENT'OA? Jose h 5. 215a;

United States Patent 3,399,588 STORAGE PALLET FOR PREASSEMBLED PIANO STRINGS AND PINS Joseph S. Gebbia, 809 Seminary St., Rockford, Ill. 61108 Filed June 13, 1966, Ser. No. 557,104 15 Claims. (Cl. 84-197) This invention relates to a pallet or carrier board for the preliminary grouping, shipping, and storage of preassembled piano strings and pins, the present invention being closely related to that disclosed in my copending application, Ser. No. 363,396, filed Apr. 29, 1964, relating to precut preassembled piano strings with tuning pin or pins attached by precision coiling of the wire thereon, and to the novel method of manufacture of such strings.

The cardboard carrier board or pallet of the present invention is an important adjunct to the main invention forming the subject matter of the copending application just mentioned, the pallet of the present invention offering the following advantages:

(1) The precut preassembled strings can be brought in sets to the piano assembly line instead of having to move the pianos to the stringer, and

(2) The stringer receives the strings marked in numerical order and assembles them in the piano accordingly with much greater dispatch and far less handling of tools. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cardboard pallet or carrier board made in accordance with my invention illustrating more or less diagrammatically how it appears with a complete set of precut, preassembled piano strings with their tuning pins attached and mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the pallet indicating in dotted lines how separators of similar cardboard may be placed in abutment with the projecting ends of the pins in the stacking of a plurality of pallets in a shipping container, as illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of my tuning pins of novel design illustrating the preliminary assembling of a piano string on a pin by precision coiling of the wire thereon;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one corner portion of a pallet or carrier board on a larger scale than FIG. 1 showing the arrangement of punched holes in the cardboard and how these holes, which are designed to receive the tuning pins with a friction fit, are preferably marked with indicia to facilitate the work of grouping the strings correctly;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one edge portion of the pallet seen in FIG. 1 showing a bent-up flange portion with a supporting backing strip cemented or otherwise secured to the pallet behind the flange to provide lateral support for those strings which would otherwise bow outwardly beyond the edge of the pallet and complicate the handling of the pallet at every juncture, and

FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views of a related temporary loading block for which holes are provided in the pallet at certain points for a similar purpose, FIG. 8 showing the block by itself with its mounting pin thereon and FIG. 7 showing the same applied to the pallet.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout these views.

As pointed out in my copending application, in the tuning of the piano with ordinary unimproved strings heretofore available, the tuner was forced to make compromises due to the fact that many strings have uneven strains as a result of uneven thickness of the wire and/or more or less twisting of the wire in the coiling by hand of their end portions on the pins, and false beats are the result. False beats means a string is producing more Patented Sept. 3, 1968 than one given set of vibrations, as for example, a string supposed to vibrate 440 times per second having 442 vibrations will produce a sound wave of 2 beats per second, called false beats. Unevenness in thickness of wire being ruled out as a factor in false beats, there remains only the twisting to be considered and that I eliminate by my invention, as will soon appear. In factories making better grade pianos the more objectionable strings from a standpoint of false beats detected in tuning were taken out and replaced with a view to minimizing the objection mentioned, but the difiiculty in my opinion can never be avoided entirely without the use of precut, precision coiled strings in which there is absolutely no perceptible twist in any string, and therefore no unevenness in the strains. imposed on the strings when tightened for tuning, and hence no false beats. Realizing that anything that is inherently false cannot be correct, and that it takes three strings to complete a unison or single note, it is apparent that all three strings related in this way must be as closely set in vibrations as possible if the note is to sound right. In other words, if there is one good string and two bad ones the tuner will have a difficult time tuning. A string that beats falsely can never be tuned properly and to tune it slightly off, as a tuner is prone to do, gives a poor result. Piano manufacturers cannot afford to remove strings to correct such defects, as has just been mentioned, as this is very costly especially if the piano has been completely assembled. Everything points therefore to the advisability of putting the strings in correctly to begin with and that is accomplished with my invention. With my invention I not only enable the quantity production of pianos that can be more easily tuned and will sound better, but, when it is realized that there are from 240 to 250 coils involved in the stringing of a piano, and heretofore all of these coils were made by hand with inevitable unevenness and inevitable twisting of the wire, at high labor costs, for an inferior product, whereas precut, precision coiled strings can be produced in quantities at much lower cost, the importance of the invention is all the more easily appreciated. With the old procedure, a defective wire would usually not reveal its flaws until perhaps at the point of the preliminary tuning of the piano, whereas, with the present procedure, a defective wire will most likely reveal its flaws in the spinner during the precision coiling of the wire on the tuning pin or pins, thereby giving another big advantage in the use of this procedure.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 10 designates one of the pallets of my invention generally, which is preferably made of corrugated paper material or cardboard of any suitable size, as, for example, approximately eighteen inches wide and thirty-six inches long, with thumb or finger holes 11 and 12 provided therein on the longitudinal center line near the opposite ends for convenience in picking up a pallet and carrying it. The two other holes 13 and 14 provided'in the corners at the upper end 15 are of about the same size and intended for use in hanging the pallet on hooks on a conveyor during the assembling of the strings thereon. Smaller holes 18 are punched in closely spaced relation, both longitudinally of the pallet along the opposite sides thereof, as indicated by dotted lines at 19 in FIG. 1, and transversely thereof at longitudinally spaced intervals, as indicated at 20-23. The strings 16 on pallet 10 are the complete set of treble clef strings. The bass clef strings, which usually have an eye on one end and a tuning pin assembled on the other end, are handled in a different way not related to this invention. The strings 16 start with the shorter inner ones indicated at 24 in FIG. 1 in the uppermost set, the next longer ones of which are numbered 25, each of these strings having the two pins 17 on their opposite ends entered in appropriate holes 18 provided in the top row 20 transversely of the upper end 15 of the pallet. Then the following set-of strings begins with the shorter inner strings 26 of that set and ends with the longer outer ones numbered 27, and here again, the pins 17 on opposite ends of each string are entered in the holes .18 extending transverselyof the pallet in the second. row 21 from the top. In the third set, the shorter. inner strings are numbered 28 and the longer outer= ones are numbered 29, this set again having, the pins 17 :on opposite ends of each entered in the holes -18 provided in the rowv 22 transversely of the pallet, the third row from the top. Finally, in the fourth set of strings,'onthe bottom end of the pallet, the shorter inner ones are numbered 30- andthe longer outer ones are numbered 31, andhere again, thepins 17 for this set are inserted in the holes 18 in a line 23 transversely of the lower portion of the pallet. The fifth set Ofstrings startswith the shorter inner ones-numbered 32, the pins 17 for-which are, inserted in holes 18 in the two series 19 provided in longitudinally spaced relation along both sides. of the pallet, and of that group,-the, longer outer ones are numbered 33, the pins for which are entered in the uppermost holes 18 in the series 19. Inoperation, the strings are assembled on the palle in the reverse order of length, starting with the longer ones 33 and ending-with the shorter ones 24, and the stringer in stringing a piano starts with the shorter innermost strings 24 of the first group and works outwardly in the first group to the longer ones 25 of that group, and then proceeds with the second group, working from the shorter innermost strings 26 outwardly to the longer outermost strings 27. Thereafter, going to the third group, the stringer works from the shorter innermost strings 28 to the longer outermost strings 29, and, finally, he gets to the fourth group, starting with the shorter innermost strings 30 and going to the longer outermost strings 31, after which the longer strings are taken, starting with the shorter innermost strings 32 of that group and going outwardly to the longer strings 33. It is apparent, therefore, that this pallet, by reason of the orderliness in which the strings are mosthandily arranged for the stringer to pick up the strings one after another in a predetermined order, makes for the best possible efficiency and eliminates any likelihood of interference or fouling of one string with another in the handling thereof.

The tuning pins 17, of which one is shown in perspective in FIG. 4 approximately full size, have a blind radial hole 34 provided therein below the squared upper end portion 35 and above the finely threaded lower end portion 36 to receive one end of the wire 16 when the pin is inserted in a power operated spinner chuck for the precision coiling, as at 37, of the wire on the pin, the spring steel wire for a given note being of a predetermined gauge and precut to a predetermined appropriate length, allowing enough at each end for the coiling indicated at 37. Care is taken in accordance with the disclosure of my copending application to see to it that there is no twist in the wire 16- prior to the entry of the ends in the holes 34 ,in,the two pins, so that the wire remains in an untwisted condition, right on up to and including the time that it is installed in the piano by the stringer, when, of. course, the pins 17 are entered in the appropriate holes provided therefor in the usual pin planks in: the piano. In that way there is no danger of false beats when each string, after being assembled in the piano, is properly tuned. All that the stringer needs is a small hammer to put the already assembled pins in their respective-places in the pin planks on the piano. The new procedure, which takes about twelve minutes per piano, added to the estimated time for precutting and precoiling the precision assembled pins, amounting to about twenty-three minutes, makes a total of approximately thirty-five minutes per piano for a good job, as against about ninety minutes 4 per piano with the old procedure for a highly questionable job.

As seen in FIGS. l and 6,- aflange 38 is bent upwardly from one edge portion of the .pallet 10 and supported in this upwardly bent condition by a wooden-backing strip 39 that is cemented or otherwise suitably secured to the top face of the pallet 10 at itsend portions 40. This flange serves as an abutment for the longer strings 32 33 which would otherwise tend to bow outwardly from the pallet on one side thereof and cause difliculty in thehandling of. the pallet.

A similar object is served by temporary loading blocks like that shown at 41 in FIGS. 7 and 8, each of which has a vertical mounting pin 42 on one side that can be entered into any one of a series of four holes 43 provided in the pallet in longitudinally spaced relation along one side thereof and in inwardly spaced relation to the series'of holes 18 indicated at 19. The notch 44 provided in the pin 42 just below the block 41 insures the pin staying in place in the-hole 43 long enough to serve its purpose while the strings 2631 are being assembled on the pallet. The block 41 is disposed behind the pin and supports it against outward inclination under pressure ofthe strings against it. 1

As illustrated in'FIG. 5, I provide long indiciamarks 45 at predetermined intervals along the rows 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 of pin holes 18, which'are preferably displayed in red to indicate to the workman assembling strings on the pallets where gauge changes in the wires occur. The intermediate indicia lines 46, which are shorter, are only to caution the operator when he or she has reached a mid-point between gauge changes, so that there will be less likelihood of any errors occurring. For example, let us assume that the workman is assembling, let us say, one hundred precut piano strings of a certain gauge and-length on one hundred pallets 10, one string per pallet, as the precut strings are first assembled on their tuning pin or pins by precision'coiling of the wire thereon. These marks 45 and 46 serve as a good means of checkin against the possibility of the person inadvertently mounting twoof such strings on one pallet, as such a mistake is -at once apparent if he or she 'winds up with one or two strings short at the end of the run of one huiidredpallets, whereupon aquick check-up of all of thepallets will immediately indicate where the mistake or mistakes occurred and they can then be quickly rectified. p I

"In conclusion, the present invention enables manufacturing of the precut assembled piano strings at one plant and shipment thereof in suitable corrugated paper board shipping containers, like that indicatedat 47 in FIG. 3, in which'the' pallets 10 canbe stacked one above another with corrugated paper board separators 48' inserte'cl between neighboring pallets with the tuning pins 17 engaging the opposite sides thereof and spacing the pallets from the separators. There is, therefore, no danger of any damage being done to any of the strings in transit. In fact, the same -.shipping containers 47 can be used over and over again and likewise the pallets 10 and separators 48, the pianomanufacturer after using the preassembled strings, usually returning the pallets 10 and separators 48 to the stringmanufacturer in the same containers 47. Piano manufacturers greatly appreciate the improvements the preassembled strings make in the performanceof the pianos, but also appreciate the' labor saving made possible-with the present invention and also that they can order in advance as many, Setsofpreassembled piano strings as their anticipated orders will call for and store the sets in their 'plantito be availableas and when needed, all of the strings being neatly arranged andfullyprotected irr'their-sh'ipping cOntain'ersQ It isbelie'ved" the'foreg'oing description conveys a good understandingo'f the objects and advantages-of my invention; The'appertded claims-have been-drawnto cover all legitimate'modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A carrier and shipping pallet for precut, preassembled piano strings having tuning pins assembled on opposite ends thereof, the pallet comprising a generally rectangular flat board having a row of spaced holes provided therein transversely, of One end portion of a size-adapted to receive the tuning pins with a friction fit, the pins on opposite ends of each string being entered in certain-of said holesto mount the string "on the board bowed to U-shape, a group of related strings of graduated lengths being all bowed to generally U-shape and arranged in nearly concentric nested relation to one another, the shorter lengths innermost and the longer lengths outermost.

2. A pallet as set forth in claim 1 wherein the board is of elongated form with a plurality of other rows of holes extending transversely of the width dimension and also of a size adapted to receive tuning pins with a friction fit, these rows being longitudinally spaced relative to the first row and to one another sufficiently to accommodate a plurality of other groups of strings, the successive groups all being mounted on the board by means of their pins like the first group and includin strings of greater and greater length progressively from the first group at one end to the last group at the other end of said board.

3. A pallet as set forth in claim 2, including indicia provided on the front face of the board adjacent the pin holes at predetermined intervals to indicate to the person assembling piano strings on pins and mounting the same on the board at what points changes in wire gauge occur, and other indicia at said pin holes midway between the first mentioned indicia to indicate the nearness to the point of wire gauge change.

4. A pallet as set forth in claim 1 wherein the board is of elongated form with a plurality of other rows of holes extending transversely of the width dimension and also of a size adapted to receive tuning pins with a friction fit, these rows being longitudinally spaced relative to the first row and to one another sufficiently to accommodate a plurality of other groups of strings, the successive groups all being mounted on the board by means of their pins like the first group and including strings of greater and greater length progressively from the first group at one end to the last group at the other end of said board, there being also holes for pins in longitudinally spaced relation along the opposite longitudinal edge portions of said board in which tuning pins of still longer strings laid in U-shape on the board surrounding the groups of other strings can be inserted on opposite sides of the board.

5. A pallet as set forth in claim 4, including an upwardly projecting elongated abutment along one longitudinal edge portion of said board for retaining longer strings of the last mentioned group against bowing outwardly beyond the confines of the board.

6. A pallet as set forth in claim 5, wherein the elongated projection is defined by an upwardly bent flange portion of the board, the construction including a backing strip of rigid material secured to the outer side of said flange and secured at its opposite ends to the board.

7. A pallet as set forth in claim 4, wherein the board has other holes provided therein in longitudinally spaced relation spaced inwardly from one longitudinal edge portion of the board in which to receive means for providing retaining abutment with strings mounted on said board.

8. A pallet as set forth in claim 4 wherein the board has other holes provided therein in longitudinally spaced relation spaced inwardly from one longitudinal edge portion of the board, in which to receive means for providing retaining abutment with strings mounted on said board, said means comprising a loading block having a ,pin enterable in one of said last named holes, the loading block extending radially from the pin away from that side having abutment with the strings to engage the board and maintain the pin in substantially right angle relationship to the board.

9. A pallet as set forth in claim 4, wherein the board has other holes provided therein in longitudinally spaced relation spaced inwardly from one longitudinal edge portion of the board in which to receive means for providing retaining abutment with strings mounted on said board, said means comprising a loading block having a pin enterable in one of said last named holes, the loading block, extending radially from the pin away from that side having abutment with the strings to engage the board and maintain the pin in substantially right angle relationship to the board, each pin being notched below and on the side toward the block to interlock with the. board when the pin is inserted in a hole provided therefor in the board.

10. A pallet as set forth in claim 1 wherein the board is of elongated form with a plurality of other rows of holes extending transversely of the width dimension and also of a size adapted to receive tuning pins with a friction fit, these rows being longitudinally spaced relative to the first row and to one another sufliciently to accommodate a plurality of other groups of strings, the successive groups all being mounted on the board by means of their pins like the first group and including strings of greater and greater length progressively from the first group at one end to the last group at the other end of said board, there being also holes for pins in longitudinally spaced relation along the opposite longitudinal edge portions of said board in which tuning pins of still longer strings laid in U-shape on the board surrounding the groups of other strings can be inserted on opposite sides of the board, the strings of each group being assembled on the pallet starting with the longer ones first and ending with the shorter strings, so as to facilitate stringing of a piano starting in each group with the shorter strings first and ending with the longer strings last to minimize any likelihood of fouling of strings.

11. In combination, a plurality of generally rectangular pallets, each carrying piano strings laid flat thereon and bowed to generally U-shape with tuning pins preassembled on the ends of the strings in right angle relationship thereto and inserted frictionally in holes provided there for in the pallet, so that the pins project appreciably from both sides of each pallet, the pallets being stacked with generally rectangular separator boards disposed between neighboring pallets with the tuning pins engaging the same from opposite sides, and a generally rectangular container housing a plurality of said pallets and separators in stacked parallel relationship to one another for shipment and storage.

12. As an article of manufacture, a pallet board for the purpose described, which is of elongated generally rectangular form, and has four rows of holes for close reception of tuning pins provided therein transversely of the width dimension at a plurality of longitudinally spaced points, the distance from the first row to the second row being less than the distance from the second row to the third row, and the distance from the second row to the third row being less than the distance from the third row to the fourth row, whereby four sets of preassembled piano strings with tuning pins assembled on opposite ends thereof may be mounted in generally U-shape on the pallet by means of their tuning pins entered in the holes and extending in the same direction from the pins, a group of the shorter strings using the first row; the next longer the second row; the next to the longest the third row; and the longest the fourth row.

13. An article of manufacture as set forth in claim 12 wherein the board also has rows of holes for close reception of tuning pins provided therein alon the opposite longitudinal edge portions, these holes being adapted for s,399,5ss

the mounting of still longer strings in a generally U-shape References Cited by means of their tuning pins entered in these holes.

14. An article of manufacture as set forth in claim 12 UNITED STATES PATENTS wherein the board also has holes to admit a thumb or 1,405,825 2/1922 Flannery 206 65 finger provided therein on the longitudinal center line of 5 2,728,452 12/1955 Kfmtola 206 65 the board and near the opposite ends thereof. 2,924,908 2/1960 LISPWY 20616 15. An article of manufacture as set forth in claim 12 3'135'382 6/1964 Cnckard et 206-65 wherein the board also has two other holes provided 3,278,918 10/1966 Ishler ct l therein in two corner portions thereof at one end for entry of hooks on which to hang the board during the 10 RICHARD WILKINSON PnmarTy q f assembling of strings thereon. WAL, ASSI'SMHI x min 

1. A CARRIER AND SHIPPING PALLET FOR PRECUT, PREASSEMBLED PIANO STRINGS HAVING TUNING PINS ASSEMBLED ON OPPOSITE ENDS THEREOF, THE PALLET COMPRISING A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR FLAT BOARD HAVING A ROW OF SPACED HOLES PROVIDED THEREIN TRANSVERSELY OF ONE END PORTION OF A SIZE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE TUNING PINS WITH A FRICTION FIT, THE PINS ON OPPOSITE ENDS OF EACH STRING BEING ENTERED IN CERTAIN OF SAID HOLES TO MOUNT THE STRING ON THE BOARD 